Crows defender Talia wants bye scrapped before finals

DUAL All-Australian Crow Daniel Talia has urged the AFL to scrap the bye before the finals after calling it a momentum stopper.

The defender echoed Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson's view that it punishes the teams that finish in the top four and win in the first week of finals.

Adelaide is this week dealing with its second weekend off in three weeks and will schedule an intraclub match on Saturday to keep up match fitness after spending three days at the Gold Coast earlier this week.

But if Talia and several other senior players had their way, this weekend would be the only one off and a reward to freshen up at the sharp end of the season.

The bye before the finals could be of great benefit to in-form team Sydney, the Crows' potential opponent in the preliminary final, which is the in-form team of the competition and is hoping to replicate the Western Bulldogs' 2016 feat of winning a flag from outside of the top four.

Talia's match practice has been further limited due to injury in Round 23, meaning he will have only played one game in five weeks by the time he runs on to Adelaide Oval next Friday night.

"It's a bit weird saying that - one game in five weeks - it's a bit crazy thinking about it," Talia said.

"But 'Tex' (captain Taylor Walker) and I, and even Sloaney (Rory Sloane) now have missed that game in between but we've all been doing two or three main sessions a week.

"It doesn't feel like we've missed that much footy because we've been training so hard.

"But I'd probably like to see it (the pre-finals bye) scrapped, to be honest.

"It halts a bit of momentum. But that's up to the AFL - my opinion is not going to change that.

"I just think that the team that wins the first week, you've got two byes in three weeks and I'm not a huge fan of it.